


The Maiden in The Tower

by Sarai



Series: The Kanej Rescues [1]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Hurt Kaz Brekker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27920827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarai/pseuds/Sarai
Summary: Kaz breaks into a mercher mansion, knowing Inej is somewhere inside.
Relationships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Series: The Kanej Rescues [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044534
Comments: 11
Kudos: 51





	The Maiden in The Tower

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to The Kanej Rescues, a series of one-shots in which Kaz rescues Inej… but not everything is as it seems.

Kaz Brekker was many things. He was a criminal prodigy swiftly growing into his promise, a lockpick, a man who slipped tidily out of a prison cell, a lord of thieves as heartless as the world called upon him to. He was ruthless. At turns, when needs must, he was a monster.

But he was not a complete podge.

And he was not going to leave his girl to languish in the clutches of merch scum. He hadn’t done it years ago and he wouldn’t do it now.

Kaz regarded the mansion from the side of the canal. It was a cool, wet night, and the fog wreathed him, but it left the shape and angles of the building clear enough. Somewhere in there was his girl. 

He knew this house well. As with most of the mercher mansions, he had been here before, knew the creaky floorboards and precisely where the businesses’ books were kept. Kaz approached in the shadows of the night, flitting from one lightless patch to another. It wasn’t easy. A fat silver moon hung low in the sky, but even the brightest night had its shadows, and Kaz Brekker would always find them. 

He waited at a crouch among the garden hedges as he timed the household guard on their rounds, kneading his bad leg. The guards seemed engaged with their work, he noted. He would have seen otherwise. There wasn’t a merchant house in Ketterdam whose secrets were all hidden from Kaz--not that the guards being well-paid and given time off were secrets. Honestly. Progressives!

When his moment arrived, Kaz crossed the yard, counting the seconds as he scaled the drainpipe to the second floor. He picked the lock on a window just in time, tumbling soundlessly through it the moment a guard came around the corner. Kaz closed the window carefully.

Inej was on the third floor. 

Kaz made it halfway to the stairs before he heard footsteps approaching. Damn! What a time for the lady of the house to decide she needed a cup of tea! He laid a gentle hand on his revolver, ready if he needed it—Kaz Brekker always went armed. Preferring not to hurt her, he slipped into the office. While in here, he might as well take a look through the papers… it wouldn’t hurt to have a little advanced knowledge on that deal with the Shu, silk imports were worth a generous pocketful of kruge…

The floorboards in the hallway creaked and a light passed beneath the door as Kaz slid open one of the desk drawers. He hesitated. Inej wasn’t going anywhere, escaping a merch manor in the middle of the night was no simple feat. No, it was not practical to stay, he decided. He would need to open the window for that too-bright moonlight or light a lamp, and either one could draw attention. Instead, he slipped out of the office once more, this time sparing only the time caution required as he climbed the stairs to the third floor, moving in shadow and soft secret.

Some safeguards didn’t take skill to slip past. Kaz knew there was a dog on this floor, a spoiled, soft thing with spoiler, soft keepers. It was useless as a guard dog—didn’t even bark when it smelled an intruder. 

The lock on Inej’s door was easy enough to pick. It cost him invaluable seconds all the same, his ears as attuned to the settling house around him as to the soft clicks of the tumblers falling into place. The lock gave easily enough against skills.

Kaz shut the door behind him.

“Inej?”

“Kaz, what are you doing here?” Her voice in the darkness told him he had been right to come. He could just make out the shape of her sitting up in bed, those enchanting dark eyes no doubt fixed on the outline of him.

“I told you I’d come for you.”

He sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress gave just enough under his weight. Slowly, deliberately, Kaz removed his gloves. Then moved closer, bit by bit until he found her in the lightless room, one hand sliding along the silk sheets until it was sliding over hers. The other found her head, fingers burying themselves in her thick, loose hair.

“The guards?”

“I bribed them to look the other way, and drugged the dogs. No one died. I--”

Kaz stopped abruptly, listening. Didn’t anyone in this house sleep?! He was sure that was a different set of footsteps walking around!

After a few moments, Inej leaned forward and kissed him. It had taken time for her to do that, for him to be ready for her to do that, or to like the warmth of her skin against his palm. He did now--especially now, when it was only the two of them alone in a world that gave no quarter but what they took.

“You came for me,” she half-sighed.

“I wouldn’t leave you at the mercy of merch scum. You’re too important to me. Only you, Inej.”

And, in the dark, he kissed her again.  
  


* * *

  
In a room not far down the corridor, the merch in question made his way back to bed. The dog whined and stirred in his sleep, and the merch, who was not so scummy as Kaz claimed, scratched the ears of his loyal pet before slipping into bed and settling under the covers.

Softly, he asked, “Are you awake?”

“Mm. Half,” came a murmur from the darkness. 

“Kaz is here. I don’t know why he insists on all this sneaking around.” In fact Wylan had spoken with his household guard about Kaz, so that they all accepted if not fully understood that the thief-king of the Barrel was a trusted friend and welcome here… even if he didn’t use the front door.

“Because he’s a bastard,” suggested a very sleepy Jesper. “Does it matter? He’s finally showing Inej a little romance.”

“You’re right,” Wylan agreed. Inej certainly deserved a little romance. A little and then some, but one learned to temper one’s expectations with Kaz Brekker. Wylan sighed and closed his eyes. “Maybe he’ll stay for breakfast this time.”


End file.
